The irony is not lost on me—as a photo-editor who has devoted many years to a medium known for stilling, or capturing, time, decisive or otherwise—that I should be equally consumed by another medium, one that defies any notion of “capture,” that I am seduced by dance’s very impermanence, especially in the case of Merce Cunningham. Cunningham’s choreography never leaves even a storyline to hang onto in its wake, but rather evinces a kind of isness, as if each dance has an ineffable essence that might somehow be touched, experienced, and that remains vital and resonant long after the curtain falls, so that endings are somehow intangible.

Cunningham’s sensibility was as much about time as about space—or, better, it was about the coexistence of the two and, unlike what transpires in much photography, time is liberated from illustration in a Cunningham dance. Things don’t have to happen in any narrative sense. Time is more about duration—which is in part why John Cage, and the other composers with whom Cunningham collaborated, had such freedom. In photography, conversely, the precise moment at which a picture is created may make all the difference—from evidentiary images to sports coverage to street shots to dance photography.

Which gets me thinking about the ephemeral—an idea that rarely pertains to the photographic object. (more…)

Hosts: Fred Ritchin, Deborah Willis, Stephen Mayes, Melissa Harris (Wafaa Bilal, not pictured)

Aperture’s inside-out  exhibition in-progress What Matters Now? opened in its final form last Saturday night. The five Hosts: Wafaa Bilal, Melissa Harris, Stephen Mayes, Deborah Willis and Fred Ritchin, had two weeks to transform the blank walls of their areas into Proposals for a New Front Page. Their collaborative efforts yielded thought-provoking, outrage-inducing and even hopeful statements about the current state of media and photography. In addition to discussions led by the Hosts, public involvement truly made the exhibition a community effort. The Public wall currently exhibits over one hundred submissions from people worldwide, and those that could not attend the Aperture Gallery space for events and lectures joined the conversation through Twitter, Facebook and the website. The unusual form of  the What Matters Now? exhibition was an experiment on Aperture’s part, but one that produced fascinating results. Using Aperture Gallery as a meeting hub, the goal of the exhibition was to start a conversation about what we are looking at, as a society, and why. The weeks’ events and Saturday’s well-attended opening demonstrates that many are concerned with issues regarding the media: particularly trust, engagement and active readership. Fred Ritchin, the creator of What Matters Now?, even plans to continue working on creating a new way of reading, collecting disseminating information.

Although the hosts are no longer adding to their walls, the Public Wall will continue to grow. You can submit images and text online here until Thursday, September 22, 2011.

What Matters Now?: Proposals for a New Front Page
through Saturday, September 24, 2011
10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York

The Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is now accepting submissions for its first photography portfolio competition. Seven winners will receive cash prizes and their work will be included in a limited edition portfolio. Melissa Harris, Editor-in-Chief of Aperture magazine, photographer Tina Barney, and PMA curator Peter Barberie are among the jurors. Submit online through May 15th.

Bambi the Mermaid, Coney Island, Brooklyn © Sylvia Plachy

Do you have an engaging question for world-renowned photographer Sylvia Plachy about her work? Melissa Harris, Editor of Aperture magazine (and two of Plachy’s books, Self Portrait with Cows Going Home and Goings on About Town), will interview Plachy for the 2009 LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph’s INsight conversation series and wants to open the forum to questions from around the world. Don’t miss this opportunity to understand and further connect with Plachy’s photographic vision. Submit a question, including your name and location, by Monday, June 1, 2009. We are looking for questions that delve beyond technical matters, exploring issues of creativity, storytelling, subject, sensibility, and inspiration. Selected questions will be asked during the interview, which will be viewable here after July 8, 2009.

Send questions to: asksylvia@look3.org

Paramount Theatre
Thursday, June 11, 2009  7:00 pm
215 E Main St
Charlottesville, Virginia
(434) 979-1922

Click here for more details

In addition to the numerous artists who are being honored at the 6th Annual Lucie Awards (see those who have worked with Aperture here), Lucies are also awarded to those in the creative community who are an integral part of crafting an image. Aperture Foundation has been nominated in two categories:

BOOK PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR for
Richard Misrach On the Beach

PHOTOGRAPHY CURATOR/EXHIBITION OF THE YEAR for
Melissa Harris, Invasions 68: Prague, Aperture Gallery, NYC

See all categories and finalists here.

Winners will be announced on October 20, 2008.